Composite floor structure and method and apparatus for making the same



April 16, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 24. 1958 INVENTOR.

' MICHAEL A.

YAKUBIK ATTORNEY April 16, 1963 M. A. YAKUBIK COMPOSITE FLOOR STRUCTURE AND METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING THE SAME 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 24, 1958 INVENTOR. MICHAEL A. YAKUBI K ATTORNEY United States Patent COMPOSITE FLOQR STRUCTURE AND METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING THE SAME Michael A. Yakubiir, Hudson, Ohio, assignor to The Goodyear Tire 8x Rubber Company, Akron, Ohio, a

corporation of (thin Filed Sept. 24, 1958, Ser. No. 763,086 3 Claims. (Cl. 94-3) This invention relates to a composite floor structure and a method and apparatus for making the same. More particularly, the invention is directed to a composite floor structure including a layer of plastic tile adhered to a water vapor pervious sub-floor installed on grade, in which the plastic tile is water vapor impervious or substantially less pervious to water vapor than the sub-floor.

On grade sub-floors are generally known and for the purpose of this invention are defined as any sub-floor which is permeable to water vapor and laid directly on soil, or which is constructed without adequate ventilated air space between the sub-floor and the soil to permit water vapor to escape to the atmosphere. Although this invention is hereinafter illustrated and described in conjunction with a concrete sub-floor, it is to be understood that the invention is not restricted solely to concrete subfloors but may be used with any water vapor pervious sub-floor which is laid on grade as defined above.

For the purpose of this invention plastic tile is defined as a flooring material made of at least one layer of a composition having as an ingredient a substantial amount of a natural or synthetic resin, a natural or synthetic elastomer or asphalt, or mixtures of the same.

Heretofore, plastic tile has been laid on concrete subfloors with some success providing the tile is compounded of materials or so reinforced that the tile is substantially rigid at room temperatures in the sense that traffic passing over such tile will not cause a traction wave to form. It is, therefore, possible to bond such tile to the sub-floor with an adhesive which forms a water vapor permeable layer between the tile and the sub-floor through which water vapor emanating through the sub-floor can escape to the edges of the tile and hence to the atmosphere. Heretofore, it has not been possible to adhere a flexible plastic tile to on grade sub-floors for the reason that no adhesive is known which will adhere the tile to the subfloor with a strong enough bond to prevent the tile from lifting due to the traction waves caused by traffic passing thereover, and, at the same time, form a water vapor pervious layer between the tile and concrete. Although this invention is particularly advantageous in applying flexible plastic tile to on grade sub-floors, it is to be understood that the invention is not restricted solely to flexible plastic tile but may be used to advantage in adhering substantially rigid plastic tile to on grade sub-floors.

It is an object of this invention to provide a composite floor construction of plastic tile adhered to an on grade sub-floor in a manner which permits moisture emanating through the sub-floor to escape to the edges of the tile while at the same time maintaining a strong bond between the plastic tile and the sub-floor.

A further object of the invention is to provide a method and apparatus for making the composite flooring set forth in the above object.

Another object of the invention is to provide a composite floor structure of plastic tile adhered to an on grade sub-floor in which the tile is more impervious to water vapor than the sub-floor and in which the tile is strongly and permanently adhered to the sub-floor While at the same time moisture is not permitted to become entrapped beneath the tile so that blistering, lifting, bubbling and similar detrimental effects due to entrapment of moisture beneath the tile are avoided.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the description of the invention in conjunction with the drawings in which FIG. 1 is an isometric view of the composite floor structure of this invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged isometric view of the composite floor structure with parts broken away;

FIG. 3 is an isometric view of an apparatus for making the composite floor structure of this invention; and

FIG. 4 is an isometric view of the modification of the composite floor structure shown in FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawings, the sub-floor 10 comprises concrete laid on grade or directly upon the soil or earth 11 to form a sub-floor for the flexible plastic tile 13. The sub-flooring 10 may form the floor of a basement for a dwelling or buildings or the first floor of a basementless house or building, or an appendage to a house or building all of which are poured directly onto the earth or soil 11 or without adequate ventilated air space between the soil and sub-floor. As is well known, concrete, although being impervious to liquids, is pervious to water vapor or moisture. It is, therefore, critical to the successful application of any flooring to on grade concrete to provide means for permitting moisture passing through the concrete to evaporate into the atmosphere. In adhering flexible plastic tile to concrete, the additional problem of strongly and permanently bonding the tile to the concrete to prevent traction waves from occurring is presented. These paradoxical problems are solved by this invention. A water insoluble adhesive is applied to the surface of the concrete in a thin layer and at spaced areas or locations to form channels extending continuously at least in one direction relative to the concrete floor. Preferably the adhesive layer 14 is applied to the concrete 10 in parallel rows or rectangular areas 15 uniformly spaced apart to form channels 16 so that the rectangular areas 15 and channels 16 extend at an angle to one edge 17 of the concrete floor 10. Preferably, the width of the areas 15 is approximately /2 inch and the width of thechannels 16 is of an equal dimension so that the flexible plastic or rubber tile 13, which is ordinarily a nine-inch square, extends across a plurality of the ad hesive areas 15. After the tiles 13 have been placed upon the adhesive layer 14, it is obvious that the channels 16 will extend across each of the tiles 13 and communicate with the minute groove 18 existing between adjacently laid tile. Moisture or water vapor permeating through the concrete sub-floor 10 may, therefore, pass through the channel 16 transversely of the tile 13 and escape through the groove 18 to the atmosphere. It is thus seen that applicants composite flooring structure provides a means for alleviating the detrimental effects due to entrapped vapor or moisture beneath flexible tile laid on on grade concrete.

Each of the rectangular areas of adhesive 15 forming the layer 14 should be of suflicient area so that in total the areas 15 cover at least 50% of the area of the concrete floor 10 to provide an adequate bond to hold the flexible tile 13 in place. The total area of the adhesive areas 15 should be no more than 70 to of the area of the floor 10 so that a suflrcient number of channels 16 are provided to permit moisture and water vapor to escape.

Any one of a number of commercial adhesives may be used so long as the tensile and shearing strength of the adhesive is suflicient to prevent traction waves from forming within the tile 13 by the movement of traflic thereover and/ or to prevent the edges of the tile from moving into a concave shape due to application of a static load on the tile. For this purpose adhesives having a tensile and shearing strength substantially greater than those used to bond asphalt and vinyl tiles to concrete is necessary but, obviously, the tensile and shearing strength need not be greater than that of the plastic tile.

A typical formula for the adhesive is as follows:

Parts by weight In no way should this invention be construed to be restricted to the construction shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings, so long as the total area of the adhesive areas is greater than approximately 50% of the area of the concrete sub-flooring 10 and the adhesive is of a strength as set forth above. The adhesive layer 14 may be applied in a plurality of areas which are spaced apart and are of any geometric shape so long as each .tile is provided with a sufiicient number of channels 16 to adequately vent moisture to the grooves formed between the adjacent tiles. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the adhesive layer 19 formed on the concrete sub-flooring 20 may be comprised of a plurality of isolated geometric areas such as squares 20 which are positioned in rows 21 and 22 extending parallel to the edges 23 and 24.01 the concrete sub-flooring 20.

Referring to FIG. 3 of the drawings, an apparatus 25 is shown for applying the adhesive layer 14 to the concrete sub-floor 10. The apparatus 25 comprises a cylinder 26 mounted upon an axle 27 journaled within the bifurcated legs 28 of handle 29. A plurality of strips 30 of liquid transferring material such as tufted carpet material, sponge rubber, sponge plastic or the like, are ap- .plied to the surface of the cylinder extending circumferentially and concentrically with the axis of the cylinder 26 at spaced locations axially thereto. The strips 30 therefore form high points forming intervening grooves 31.

In operation, the operator dips or rolls the cylinder 26 into a shallow pan containing liquid adhesive and rolls the cylinder 36 across the concrete sub-floor 10 to thereby apply the adhesive in a plurality of parallel rectangular areas 15. In order to apply the adhesive in the pattern shown in FIG. 4 the strips 30 are provided with interrupted portions so that as the cylinder 22 is rolled across the concrete sub-flooring 20 adhesive is applied in isolated spaced areas 20 of any geometric shape.

Whlie certain representative embodiments and details have been shown for the purpose of illustrating the invention, it will be apparent to those skilled in this art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. A composite floor structure comprising a water vapor pervious sub-floor laid on grade, a layer of flexible plastic tiles more impervious to water vapor than said sub-floor, and a layer of adhesive interposed between the sub-floor and said plastic tile, said adhesive adhered to said tiles and said sub-floor to bond the tile to the sub-floor, said adhesive layer comprising spaced parallel rows of adhesive forming intervening channels, each tile being adhered to a plurality of rows of said adhesive, a plurality of said channels formed by said rows of adhesive extending across each tile and communicating with at least two edges of each of said tiles, whereby vapor permeating through the sub-floor may escape to the edges of the tile and hence to the atmosphere.

2. A composite floor structure as claimed in claim 1 in which said adhesive rows comprise in total area at least percent of the area of said sub-floor.

3. A composite floor structure as claimed in claim 1 in which each of .said rows of adhesive are formed of a plurality of isolated areas of adhesive.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,518,820 Romanoif Dec. 9, 1924 1,854,512 Heppes Apr. 19, 1932 1,920,503 Hadley Aug. 1, 1933 2,092,694 Crooks Sept. 7, 1937 2,123,409 Elmendorff July 12, 1938 2,130,786 Borgstein Sept. 20, 1938 2,277,892 Swenson Mar. 31, 1942 2,411,328 MacNab Nov. 19, 1946 2,415,038 Rockhill Jan. 28, 1947 2,556,262 Faeber June 12, 1951 2,582,407 Barrett Jan. 15, 1952 2,660,217 Lawson Nov. 24, 1953 2,666,402 Clarvoe Jan. 19, 1954 

1. A COMPOSITE FLOOR STRUCTURE COMPRISING A WATER VAPOR PERVIOUS SUB-FLOOR LAID ON GRADE, A LAYER OF FLEXIBLE PLASTIC TITLES MORE IMPERVIOUS TO WATER VAPOR THAN SAID SUB-FLOOR AND A LAYER OF ADHESIVE INTERPOSED BETWEEN THE SUB-FLOOR ND SAID PLASTIC TILE, SAID ADHESIVE ADHERED TO SAID TILES AND SAID SUB-FLOOR TO BOND THE TILE TO THE SUB-FLOOR, SAID ADHESIVE LAYER COMPRISING SPACED PARALLEL ROWS OF ADHESIVE FORMING INTERVENTING CHANNELS, EACH TILE BEING ADHERED TO A PLURALITY OF ROWS OF SAID ADHESIVE, A PLURALITY OF SAID 